Tuesday, February 10, 2015

his morning I received a message from a Veteran who informed me of another battle Master Sergeant J. Russel is going through right now with his son Brock. If you could take a moment to check out the link & share that would be appreciated. This man saved his life in Afghanistan & now is fighting a battle with his son here at home.

If you want to help the link to donate is on this page but if you can't that's also okay and maybe share this post will put them in contact with the right people.

Here's the post on their "Go Fund Me" page :

Meet our youngest son Brock. He was diagnosed with a rare form of a Malignant Rhabdoid tumor called an Extrarenal Rhabdoid Sarcoma or also known as an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) when he was 5 years old. There are usually about 30 cases of these types of tumors diagnosed every year.

His diagnosis came after 3 months of complaining of intense neck pain which began in August and September of 2014. His doctor finally ordered a CT scan on November 24th which revealed the quarter sized mass invading his spine at C1 and C2 with another involvement at C5. We were shocked and devastated and were medi flighted out to another hospital in Jacksonville, FL for their team to do a biopsy.

After the biopsy, the pathology results took two weeks to come back. During that time the neurosurgeon put Brock in a halo brace to help with his pain and to keep him stabilized to prevent him from becoming paralyzed. The pathology came back confirming our worst fears, and we were sent home to begin Chemo. After two cycles of intense Chemo therapy we went back to Jacksonville to harvest stem cells and do some follow up scans. The scans revealed that his tumor had grown and spread to other vertebrae. His tumor is not reacting to chemo and is growing rapidly. The doctors are reaching out for other opinions and trying to find a surgeon willing to operate on the delicate location. Any donations would be used for travel expenses as we may be traveling all over the country to Boston, Tennessee, or Pittsburgh to consult with experts.

Brock loves life. He keeps our spirits up and keeps us going. He has been through so much from chemo and daily shots to surgery and overcoming the fear of MRI machines. He has had to become so brave in just the last few months and still maintains a smile.

Please help us find the right doctor to help my son.

Feb 10th, 4:28pm Eastern Time : Update from the family : Thank you everyone for helping us to reach our $10,000 goal so quickly! Our family is so grateful for all the generosity, prayers and kind words. We have a feeling of relief and freedom to be able to travel anywhere we need to go to help Brock. Thank you for all the support and extra outside research that some of you have done. This campaign has done so much good for us. We were advised to increase the amount for our goal, but I just wanted everyone to know that any extra money will be donated to Childhood Cancer Research and the Ronald McDonald house.

Brock's medical file and a copy of his scans have been sent out all across the country now to St Jude's, University of Pittsburgh, Dana Farber in Boston, University of South Florida, and Duke University. His team is waiting to hear back from these facilities and we will hopefully have a plan by the end of this week. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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Monday, February 2, 2015

After many years of putting it off and dealing with symptoms of PTSD from what happened to me outside Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa, Ontario I've decided to try and track down any of the first responders that saved my life in 1994.

My name is Dave Murphy and in March of 1994 I was attacked by three guys outside of the Bayshore Shopping Centre and stabbed multiple times. As this is now almost 21 years later many parts of that night are foggy but I'm hoping to find the EMS, Police or any first responders that were on site that night who helped saved my life.

I know two of the stab wounds on my leg if it had not been for a guy holding the muscle in my leg together I would be here typing this right now but I would be doing it from a wheelchair as if it wasn't for him I would have lost my leg.

I attempted to contact the "Personal Healh Information Office" and received the following reply :

Thank you for you inquiry, I would like to inform you that in 1994 Paramedic Service were provided via private firms. I would suggest the inquiring via the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care who are the governing body for all Paramedic Services in Ontario. May I suggest a starting point ,Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care - Personal Health Information Office

I attempted to contact them and received this reply :

We don’t provide the type of information you are looking for. You could try contacting the local ambulance service that tended to you. I believe they keep records of this sort of thing, or might be able to point you in the right direction.

I did post about the ordeal for #BellLetsTalk day and did have a retired fire fighter contact me who's looking in to it for me as well but maybe someone who knows someone might see this post and be able to help me find some of these heroes who I wouldn't be here today if not for their actions that night.

On the retired fire fighter page one of his friends did post the following :

In a general sense perhaps Nepean police info was incorporated in the the Ottawa Regional Police (Which of course has since transitioned into Ottawa Police Service). The Ottawa Police Service would be my starting point. Now from my time in Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) I know some departments used CPIC more than others if the department didn't have a robust internal computer system but I don't know where to start to access the CPIC. I would guess that a federal access to information request for entries created by Nepean police on xx date near yy time re stabbing incident. On a general note based on my 42 years in federal service all information desired should be done through a formal request. Informal requests / emails can be ignored or fobbed off by civil servants. Formal requests have deadlines to meet and penalties for non compliance. I know this from making a few requests myself while pursuing a grievance. In 1994 the ambulance service was a single entity province wide with dispatch centres (CACC) run by contract entity and some ambulances were private contractors. However the Ministry Of Health (MOH) set and enforced the reporting and documentation criteria across the province and everything ended up with the MOH. The patient log was a huge form in very small print with what seemed like hundreds of check boxes. The same form was used province wide by all ambulances. Those records may not have ever been computerized but likely exist in microfiche. A formal request to MOH for info would help open these old files. A further idea, "follow the money" the ambulance ride and hospital care would have been charged to the patients OHIP number. An formal access request for date time against that OHIP number could be the beginning of getting more information.

I want to find anyone that responded that night and be able to say THANK YOU. I am going to be in Ontario in April and would love it if I could meet them in person and bring closure to these events and move along with my new life & new baby.